Method of and apparatus for conditioning cigar wrapper leaf tobacco



y 1935- cxe. MAXWELL 2,002,120

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCOFiled Jan. 27, 1931 '7 Sheets-Sheet'l N .3 k n E sk t b INVENTOR.

2: CHARLES a. MAXWELL,

ZZlI/l/l/ Lo A TTORNEYS.

y 1935- v c. G. MAXWELL 2,002,120

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCOFiled Jan. 27, 19 '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

G.MAXWELLI A TTORNEYS.

y 1935- c G. MAXWELL 2,002,120

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS'FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCOFiled Jan. 27, 1931 7 sheets-sh et 3 Fig. 3

44 Fl9.% 45 59 36 4l 1 38 38 INVENTQR. CHARLES G.MAXWELL,

A TTORNEYS.

y l c. G. MAXWELL 2,002,120

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCOFiled Jan.. 2?, 1951 v Sheets-Sheet 4 pm I o 00 (\l 0 N\ o I (\1 l 2 2Ln N x m m M n Q3 2 o N M m N wnr) F \O r N 01 E m N 9| I o l o (\J 000) v m INVENTOR.

CHARLES G.MAXWELL.

ATTORNEYS. t k9 May 21, 1935. 2,002,120

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCO c.e. MAXWELL Filed Jan. 27, 1931 '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

CHARLES G. MAXWELL, BYJLL7 W ATTORNEYS.

y 21, 1935- cl G. MAXWELL 2,002,120

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCOFiled Jan. 27, 1951 7 Sheets Sheet 6 INVENTOR. CHARLES a. MAXWELL,

I8 I Fig.13 MW qyww ATTORNEYS.

y 1935- c. G. MAXWELL METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGARWRAPPER LEAF TOBACCO Filed Jan. 27, 1931 '7 Sheets-Sheet '7 IN V EN TOR..MAXWELL, gg v -q A T ORNEYS.

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Patented May 21, 1935 (UNITED STATES METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CONDITIONING CIGAR WRAPPER LEAF TOBACCO I Charles G. Maxwell, Louisville,Ky., assiguor, by .mesne assignments, to The American Tobacco Company, acorporation of New Jersey Application January 2'7, 1931, Serial No.511,631

' Claims. (Cl. 131-55) My present invention relates to a new method 'ofand apparatus for conditioning cigar wrapper tobacco leaves to renderthem soft and pliant,

and in the best possible condition, without de- 5 terioration, forimmediate use in the manufacture of all grades of cigars. I

Cigar wrapper tobacco leaves are delivered to cigar manufacturers inso-called hands or bundles, consisting of a number of leaves tiedtogether at their butt ends. When received, the leaves are relativelydry and usually some of the leaves are matted, i. e., in adherentcontact with adjacent leaves requiring manual separation before they canbe properly conditioned under present conditioning methods. When in arelatively dry state the leaves break easily, especially when separatedor unmatted by hand, and as this class of tobacco is expensive, (9.large part of it being imported) any breakage of the leaves which willreduce the number of individual cigar wrappers that may be obtained fromeach leaf becomes a matter of great economic importance to the cigarmanufacturer.

Furthermore, the color of the leaves is also of great importance,especially those of a relatively light brown or mil color, and as theychange color or become darker under the influence of mildly excessiveheat and become spotted by globules 'of water, any conditioning 30method to be acceptable to a careful manufacturer, jealous of hisproduct, must be devoid of such evil influences. and to be commerciallypracticable the leaves must be uniformly conditioned in the shortestpossible time.

The objects, therefore, of the present invention are to provide adistinctly 'new method of and apparatus for conditioning cigar wrapperleaf tobaccos to render the leaves soft and pliant, withoutdeterioration, which may be carried out continuously and wherein theleaves may be conditioned in a much shorter time than is possible withthe methods now generally in use.

Briefly and generally stated, the method consists in continuously andslowly passing the hands of leaves, (preferably suspended by their buttends) thru a moving atmosphere having a humidity of from 94 to 98percent, and a temperature of from 70 to 85 degrees F., and inmaintaining the leaves in such humid atmosphere for a period of timesuilicient to permit them to naturally absorb or take upsuihcientmoisture to render them soft and pliant, and may further consist inimparting a lateral swingin motion to the hands as they travel throughthe atmosphere in order that the matted leaves the tobacco and thevelocity and temperature of 10 the current of humid air passing throughthe treatment chamber, and so far as I am aware no method or apparatushas ever been produced that will effectively do the work in so short aperiod of time. 1 In order to enable others skilled in the art tounderstand and practice my said invention, I will now proceed todescribe the same in connection with the attached drawings, in which Ihave illustrated one form ofapparatus for carrying out the method. r

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wapper conditioning apparatusconstructed in accordance with my invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view.

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, lookingat the right-hand end thereof.

Figure 4 is a transverse section taken on the broken line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

. Figure 5 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2. v

Figure 6 is a detail view showing the gear reduction driving mechanismfor advancing the endless chain conveyors.

Figure '7 is a detail view showing the take-up mechanism for the endlesschain conveyor.

Figure 8 is an enlarged section showing two of the inlet passagesleading to the conditioning chamber.

Figure 9 is a plan view of the mechanism for reciprocating the conveyorchains to impart, a swinging movement to the suspended hands of leaves.4

Figure 10 is a section on the line lt-ll of Fig. 9.

Figure 11 is a section taken on of Fig. 9.

Figure 12 is a of Fig. 10.

Figure 13 is a section on the line ll-ll of Fig. 12.

Figure 14 is a longitudinal section of modified form of apparatus.

the line section taken on the line l2-l2 5a a slightly Fig. 14.

Figure '15 is a section on the line i i-id of sprocket chain it? drivenby motor 2i and including any approved type of reducing gearing Figure16 is 'a transverse section of a modified shown in the present instanceas enclosed in form of tobacco hand-carrying bar and its clips. housing20 Fig. 6, and also including sprocket Figure 17 is a rear view of oneof the clips illuschain 2 I, which drives the large gear 22 mountedtrated in Fig. 16. 1 upon the shaft 23,-all as more clearly shown inFigure 18 is a longitudinal sectional view of Figures 1 andfi. one endof the modified form of tobacco hand- The length of the conditioningchamber and carrying bar showing its pivotal or swivel con the speed ofthe conveyor chains are so propornection with the carrier chains. tionedthat it requires anywhere from three to Referring more particularly toFigures 1, 2 and five hours for a given point on the chain, as for 5,the reference numeral i indicates a relatively instance a particularsupporting bar iii, to travel long chamber, the walls of which arepreferably entirely through the chamber. This speed is composed ofinsulating material of any suitable sufliciently slow to permit anoperator standing nature, opposite sides thereof being preferably at theinlet end of the machine to load all of the provided withsuitably-spaced sight windows 2, 'clips of a particular supporting barwith hands covered with transparent material for observing of tobaccobefore that bar moves up into its casthe interior of the chamber when inworking coning 5, and to permit an operator at the outlet end dition. ofthe apparatus to remove all of the conditioned This chamber 2 may besupported by any suithands of leaves from an exposed supporting bar ablemeans, but I prefer to suspend it from the before it returns into thechamber and during ceiling 3 of the room in which it is installed, andthe movement of the conveyor, and without stopfor this purpose anyapproved supporting means ping the same. By this arrangement the opermaybe employed, such as the metal or other hangers 4.

When thus supported, the spacebeneath the ation of the apparatus iscontinuous, the hands being fed in at one end and removed at the other.In the particular apparatus illustrated, I have inlet and outlet ends ofthe chamber for a purchamber may be utilized for working or storageshown the conditioning chamber as made of two purposes. Each end of thechamber i is provided sections arranged end to end, each section beingwith a downwardly and outwardly inclined casprovided with an inlet 2!;at its bottom, and an 5 p a its extremity, as Shown in Figs- 1 outlet25, at its top, each outlet being housed in a d a t the e of the figuresindicating a hood 2t, and each having communication with the inlet endof the appa atus. .and t a to t e the upper part of the interior of thechamber right indicating the outlet end; Shafts 6 are through aplurality of ports or passages 2i, lojournaled in the lower end of eachof the casin? cated in the top wall thereof. The inlets 24 le d SaidShafts Carrying Sprocket Wheels t into chambers 28, arranged at thebottom of the sp wheels a es p on other shafts conditioning chamber ofthe apparatus, and com- Su a ly m d t the inlet and Outlet ends ofmunication is bad between the chamber 28 and the chambe Said SpreeketWheels Supporting the interior of the conditioning chamber through a PaOf Suitably trained endless chain Conveyors ports or passages 29, ineach of which is mounted the pp runs of which are exposed at the aplurality of louvers 30, each having a depending laterally deflectingvane 3!, all as more clearly pose presently to be described. shown inFigs. 5 and 8, the said louvers operating The chain convey rs 9, y bemaintained to properly deflect and distribute the currents relativelytaut by any suitable slack adjuster, as of humidified air ith which theconditioning the toothed idlers 9,' 1113011 the p n chamber is suppliedfrom below upward through Pressed red 9b as more clearly Shown in Figurethe suspended hands of leaves, and out through The sprocket wheels 8 forthe upper run of the th tl t 211, chains are so located within thechamber as to Any suitable air conditioning or humidifying cause thesaid run of the conveyor. to travel means may be employed t supplyproperly hrou h th upp r portion of the hamber. T ditioned air to theconditioning chamber. In the two endless chains 9 are arranged to travelpresent instance, I have shown in Figure 2, more t h the Chamber and theCasings 5 at D- or less diagrammatically, two of such conditioning p sits d s h f, a d sa d a s a y a p umeans designated generally by thenumeral 32, ralitv f sui blypac d r v rs to acco each having an outletpipe or a conduit as. cona Supporting bars as o e clearly shown nectedwith the inlets 24 to the conditioning chamin Figures 10 and 12, eachbar carrying a pluher, and each having an inlet pipe 3 5 connectedrality of appropriately-spaced tobacco hand to the outlets 25 leadingfrom the conditioning gripping devices, such as spring clips, each 0011-chambenthe arrangement being such that propsisting of a fixed jaw l2,and a movable springerly conditioned humidified air may be caused topressed jaw l3, the said jaws being pivoted at M, circulate through theconditioning chamber in and normally held in gripping position by meansappropriate volumes and at appropriate speeds. of aspring l5. The lowerend of the fixed jaw-l2 so that the amount of humidified air passing isprovided with a series of outwardly-projecting through the chamber maybe regulated at will. points or projections l6, and the lower end of Asis well understood in the art, each humidithe movable jaw I! is curvedorarched in crossfying apparatusQwbich I have not shown in desection, asmore clearly shown in Figure 12, and tail, includes suitable water jetsor sprays, someis longitudinally corrugated or providedwith times calledair washers. through which air inwardly-extending points or projections,as at is forced to properly condition the air. As such [8, so as tofirmly grip the butt ends of the apparatus is well known in the art. Ido not deem hands" or bundles of leaves to be passed through itnecessary to illustrate or describe the same in the conditioningchamber. detail.

Theendless chain conveyors 9, with their supporting bars ID, are causedto .travelslowly method, I have found that the air to be suppliedthrough the conditioning chamber by any suitable to the conditioningchamber must have a moisslow-speed gearing or driving means, such as theture content of between 94 and 98%. Percentages Suflice it to,say, inthe practice of my new aooaiao appreciably below and above these limitswill likely defeat the objects of the invention. Like wise, theconditioning air must have a temperature of between and F. The propertemperature is provided preferably by installing suitable heating units(not shown) in the airmoistening or humidifying apparatus. Temperaturesappreciably below or above those indicated are also likely to defeat thepurposes of the invention, because overheating the tobacco leaves willeither discolor them, or cause some other deteriorating effect.

I have found in the practice of my improved method, that it, is highlydesirable to imparta lateral swinging motion to the hands of leaves asthey travel through the conditioning chamber. This not only tends toseparate the matted leaves, one from another, but also opens up theindividual leaves of the hands, so that the moving current or currentsof conditioned air which pass upward through the chamber, attack everyportion of the various leaves of the hands, and thus thoroughly anduniformly condition them so that they will be rendered appropriatelysoft and pliant, ready to be worked in the manufacture of cigars.

One form of means for imparting this lateral swinging motion to thesuspended hands of leaves is more clearly illustrated in Figs. 4, 5, 9and 11,

and comprises means for imparting short lateral movements to a sectionof the upper run of the chain and its supporting bars. This means 0sists in providing extra supporting sprockeg5 for a section of the upperrun of the endless c ins 9, said supporting sprockets being carried bylongitudinally reciprocating stub-shafts 33, mounted in journals'3l,carried by brackets 39 at each side of the chamber l, on opposite sidesof the center thereof, as more clearly shown in Figure 10.

The stub shafts 36 are each reciprocated by means of a link 39,eccentrically connected to a disk 40, mounted upon the shaft of a motor4|, as more clearly shown in Figure 10. The link 39 is pivotallyconnected to an oscillating bar H, which in turn is secured at its lowerend as at 42, to the shaft 36, and at its upper end as at 43, to areciprocating rod 44, which extends transversely through the upper partof the conditioning chamber, and is connected to the shaft 36, at theother side of the apparatusby means of a strap connection' 45, so thatthe conveyor chain supporting sprockets 35 at opposite sides of theconditioning chamber will be reciprocated simultaneously, thus impartingshort laterally-directed vibrations or reciprocating motions to arelatively long section of the upper run of the conveyor chains, thisresulting in imparting a sidewiseswinging motion to the hands of leavessuspended from the various supporting bars l0, carried by the chainbetween the uppermost fixed sprockets 8, within the conditioningchamber. r

In order to provide for free and practically frictionless movement ofthe reciprocating shafts 36, which carry the sprockets 35, I provide thebearings 31 for said shafts with anti-friction rollers 46, mounted insuitable grooves in the shafts and their bearings respectively, as moreclearly shown in Figure 11.

In the apparatus illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which is asubstantial duplicate of a cormnercial structure I have built andsuccessfully operated, the conditioning chamber I is approximately 60feet long and the speedof the tobacco transporting conveyor isapproximately 2 inches per minute. This means that with a chamber ofthis length and a movement of the conveyor as specified, it requiresabout five hours for the hands of leaves to pass through theconditioning chamber, and to be completely and properly conditioned.This conditioning time may be lowered to approximately three hours byincreasing the volume of the stream of. conditioned air passing throughthe chamber, always with the understanding that the percentage ofhumidity and the temperature are not appreciably above or below thoseheretofore stated.

The length of stroke given the shafts 33 to cause a swinging motion tobe imparted to the hands of leaves is about 4 inches, and I prefer toimpart from 80 to strokes per (minute, although I do not wish to beunderstood as limiting myself to any length of stroke or number ofstrokes per minute, nor do I wish to be understood as limiting myself toany particular length of conditioning chamber, or to any particularspeed of travel of the conveyor chain. Obviously, these may be variedwithin limits, without departing from the spirit of the invention; nordo I wish to be understood as limiting myself to the employment of twoair-conditioning means associated with each conditioning chamber, as oneor more such means may be employed, depending upon the size of thechamber.

An important feature of my new method resides in the fact that theconditioning is performed at temperatures which are the average normaltemperatures prevailing in the various working rooms of a factory inwhich my apparatus, and other machines, are installed, and as theconditioning chamber is open at both ends the tobacco coming from thechamber directly into-the room neither sweats nor becomes stiff.

In Figs. 14 and 15 of the accompanying draw-, ings, I have illustrated aslightly'modifled arrangement of the conditioning chamber. The maindifference in this arrangement over that shown in the other viewsresides in the fact that both runs of the endless chain conveyer travelthrough the upper part of the conditioning chamber, the hands of leavesin this arrangement being supported by the bars of. the lower run of thechains as shown.. With this arrangement the upwardly moving currents ofhumidified air are not in any way deflected by the bars which carry thehands ofleaves as in the arrangement illustrated in the first describedform of the apparatus. I therefore prefer to use the arrangementillustrated in Figure 14.

In this Figure 14 the numeral 2' indicates the sight windows in theopposite walls of the conditioning chamber, and the numeral 4' indicatesthe supports for the chamber, the chamber in this instance beingsupported from the floor instead of being suspended from the ceiling.The numerals 5' indicate the extensions for the endless carrier chains,said extensions being located at the opposite ends of the chamber, andthe bottom of each chamber being provided with openings for the chainsand their hand supporting bars to pass through.

As in the prior construction, the left-hand end of the Fig. 14construction is the feeding or inlet end, and the right-hand end is thedischarge or outlet end of the apparatus. The endless chain carriers 9'travel over the sprockets 8', and the tobacco hand supporting bars areindicated at It.

As, shown in Fig. 16, I prefer to construct the bars ill of sheet metal,as such construction is not likely to warp or twist. I prefer to encloseor encase the metal bars I within an insulating strip or cover of feltor other fabric H, to guard against condensation of moisture upon thebars.

In Fig. 16, the numeral l2 indicates the fixed member of the hand-buttengaging clip, l3, the

movable member or jaw whichis pivoted at M, and 15' indicates the springfor normally holding the movable jaw into gripping relation with thefixed jaw.

In Fig. 17 I have shown the rear face of the fixed jaw l2 provided withstruck up perforations of the apparatus.

As will be seen by referring to Fig. 14, the extensions at the oppositeends of the conditioning chamber support the endless chains in such away that the lower runs of the chains at each end of the apparatus willexpose the tobacco hand-carrying bars and their clips to permit theoperator at the feed end of the machine to readily attach the tobaccohands to the clips, and the operator at the delivery end of the machineto readily remove the conditioned hands from the clips.

The numeral 24' indicates the inlet end of the chamber 28' into whichthe conditioned air comes from the air washer or conditioning apparatus,and 29 indicates the openings leading from the casing 28' into theconditioning chamber, 3| indicating the louvre.

As will be seen by referring to Figure 15, there are two rows of spacedopenings leading from the chamber 28' into the conditioning chamber, andthese openings are arranged in spaced relation to permit of a largenumber of well distributed outlets for the conditioned air so that allportions of the leaves of thesuspended hands will be directly attackedby the air.

The numeral 26' indicates the casing at the top of the conditioningchamber out through which the, conditioned air passes, and numerals 21indicate the openings leading from the top of the conditioning chamberinto the casing 25'.

Numerals 35' indicate the laterally reciprocating sprockets whichsupport the lower run of the endless carrier chains, and which impart asidewise swinging motion to a portion of the lower run of the chains,their bars and the hands of leavessupported thereby, it being'understoodthat the sprockets 35 may be reciprocated by any suitable mechanism,such, for instance, as that illustrated in the prior describedarrangement.

In the last described arrangement, as in the one previously described,the conditioned air having the humidity and temperature stated, iscaused to circulate through the conditioning chamber, into contact withthe travelling hands of leaves, and then back to the air moistening orconditioning apparatus, with all of the advantages heretofore referredto, and. the additional advantages described with reference to themodified arrangement.

It will be understood that according to my method the tobacco leaves donot, at any point in the conditioning operation, come into directcontact with free water such as would tend to spot or discolor theleaves. Because of this, the

tobacco leaves retain their natural color and are not subject to rapiddeterioration or rot;

While I have described my method as being continuous, in that the handsof tobacco are moved continuously through the conditioning chamber, I donot wish to be understood as limiting myself to a continuously movingendless conveyor, as the objects of the invention may be accomplished byan intermittently moving conveyor.

While I prefer. to impart a lateral swinging motion to the hands ofleaves asthey travel thru the conditioning chamber, because this speedsup the operation and makes for thorough and uniform conditioning of theleaves, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to this stepin the method, as with some types of tobacco the step may be omitted.

My new conditioning method is not to be confused with the well knownso-called ordering methods now generally employed by manufacturers-ofvarious kinds of tobacco products, such as cigarettes, smoking andchewing tobaccos, as such ordering methods differ materially 'in variousparticulars from my method, and are incapable of accomplishing theresults secured by the practice of my method or to be substituted for mymethod.

What I claim is:-

1. The herein-described continuous method of conditioning tobacco leafwrappers to render them soft and pliant, which consists incontinuously\passing a succession of suspended hands of leaves into,through and out of a chamber slowly and in direct contact with a currentof warm humid air moving thru the chamber, the said air having amoisture content of approximately 96 per cent and in so regulating theconditions of operation that the moving tobacc will be maintained in thepresence of the h .id atmosphere until it absorbs naturally allthe,moisture it can assimilate by absorption in such an atmosphere, thetemperature of -.the said atmosphere being such as to substantiallyretard the formation of water globules such as would tend to spot theleaves.

2. The herein-described continuous method of conditioning tobacco leafwrappers to render them soft and pliant, which consists in continuouslypassing a succession of suspended hands of leaves into, through and'outof a chamber slowly and in direct contact with a current of humid airmoving thru the chamber, the said air having a moisture content ofapproximately 96 per cent, and a temperature of approximately 80 degreesF., and in so regulating the conditions of operation that the tobacco inits' travel through and out of the chamber will be maintained in thepresence of the humid atmosphere for a sufficient length of time topermit it to absorb naturally all the moisture it can assimilate byabsorp: tion in such an atmosphere.

3. The herein-described continuous method of conditioning cigar wrapperleaf tobacco to render 4. In an apparatus for conditioning "hands" oftobacco leaves to render the leaves soft and pliant, a conditioningchamber, means for transporting hands of leaves through said chamber,means for creating and causing a current of humid air having a'moisturecontent of approximately 96 per cent and substantially free of waterglobules to pass through said chamber, and into contact with the handsof leaves, and means for moving said transporting means and the attachedleaves through the chamber at such a speed proportioned to the length ofthe chamber that the leaves will absorb naturally all the moisture theycan assimilate by absorption in such an atmosphere and thus be renderedsoft and i pliant by their travel thru and out of the chamber in onedirection.

5. In apparatus of the class described, a chamher having an inletopening at one end and an 20 ,the conveyor for carrying suspended handsof tobacco leaves, means for imparting short lateral reciprocatingmovements to a portion only of the conveyor as it travels through thechamber to cause the hands of leaves carried by said portion to swinglaterally from their suspended butt ends, and means for introducinghumid air into the chamber.

6. In apparatus of the class described, a conditioning chamber having aninlet opening at one end and an outlet opening at the other end, anendless chain conveyor passing through said chamber, and having portionsthereof extending thru and beyond said inlet and outlet openings, meanscarried by the conveyor for carrying suspended hands of tobacco leaves,means for, imparting short lateral reciprocating movements to a portionof the conveyor travelling through the chamber, to cause the hands ofleaves to swing laterally from their suspended butt ends,

- and means for introducing warm humid air into the chamber, having amoisture content of from 94 to 96% and a temperature from 70 to 85 F.

7. In an apparatus of the class described, a conditioning chamber havingan inlet opening at one end and an outlet opening at the other end, apair of endless chains trained to move through said chamber, with onerun thereof positioned in the upper part of the chamber, bars carried bythe chains and arranged transversely of the chamber, means carried bythe bars for engaging and holding the butt ends of hands of tobacco, forsupporting them in a suspended position, means for imparting relativelyshort reciprooating'movements to a portion only of the upper run of eachchain for causing lateral swinging movements to be imparted to'thesuspended hands of leaves carried by said portion, and means for causinghumid air to flow through the chamber and into contact with thesuspended leaves.

chamber, transverse bars carried by the chains,

a plurality of clips attached to each bar, each clip having jaws forgripping the butt end of a hand of leaves, a plurality of spaced inletsleading through the bottom of the chamber, means for producing andcausing humid air having a moisture content of approximately 96% to passupwardly through said inlets and through the chamber and into contactwith the leaves travelling therethrough, and a plurality of spacedoutlets for the humid air at the upper part of the chamber.

9. In apparatus for conditioning cigar tobacco leaf wrappers, aconditioning chamber having an inlet opening at one end and an outletopening at the other end, a pair of endless conveyor chains passingthroughsaid chamber,withportions thereof extending through and beyondsaid inlet and outlet openings, means for supporting the upper run ofthe chains to cause them to travel through the upper portion of thechamber, transverselyarranged bars carried by said chains, a pluralityof clips carried by each bar for grasping and holding the butt ends ofhands of leaves, means for causingthe upper run of the chains toreciprocate laterally for the purpose specified, and means for causing acurrent of humid air having a moisture content of from 94 to 98%humidity, and a temperature of from 70 to 85 F. to pass through saidconditioning chamber.

10. In apparatus for conditioning hands of tobacco leaves to render theleaves soft and pliant, a conditioning chamber having an opening at eachend thereof, means for transporting tobacco hand'carrying bars throughthe upper portion of said chamber and slightly beyond each end thereof,spaced means carried by the bars for holding hands of leaves suspendedtherefrom, slow-speed driving means for advancing the bars slowlythrough the chamber, and means for creating and causing humid air havinga moisture content of approximately 96% and a temperature ofapproximately 80 F. to flow through said chamber and into contact withthe leaves passing therethrough, the construction and arrangement ofparts being such that the leaves in their passage through and out of thechamber will be maintained in the presence of the humid atmosphere untilthey absorb naturally all the moisture they can assimilate by absorptionin such atmosphere.

11. In apparatus for conditioning hands of tobacco leaves to render theleaves soft and pliant, a conditioning chamber having an opening at eachend thereof, endless chains for transporting hands of tobacco leavesthrough said chamber and beyond each end thereof, spaced means carriedby the chains for suspending the hands of leaves therefrom, slow-speeddriving means for advancing the chains slowly through the chamber, andmeans for creating and causing humid air having a moisture content ofapproximately 96% and a temperature of approximately 80 F. to flowthrough and out of the chamber, the speed of the chains andthe length ofthe chamher being such that the leaves will remain in contact with thehumid air for a suflicient length of time to render them soft and pliantby their travel through and out of the chamber in one direction.

12. In apparatus for conditioning hands of tobacco leaves to render theleaves soft and pliant, a conditioning chamber having an opening at eachend thereof, endless chains for transporting hands of tobacco leavesthrough said chamber and beyond each end thereof, spaced mwans carriedby the chains for suspending the hands of leaves therefrom, slow-speeddriving means soft and pliant during their travel through and out of thechamber in one direction.

13. In an apparatus for continuously conditioning hands of tobaccoleaves to render the leaves soft and pliant, a conditioning chamber,means for transporting hands of leaves through one end and out of theother end of said chamber, means for producing and causing a current ofwarm humid atmosphere substantially free of water globules and having amoisture content of approximately 96 per cent to pass through and out ofsaid chamber, and into direct contact with the traveling hands ofleaves, and means for moving said transporting means and the attachedtobacco leaves through the chamber at such a speed proportioned to thelength of the chamber and the character of the tobacco that the leavesin their travel through and out of the chamber will remain in the humidatmosphere for a length of time suflicient to enable them to naturallyabsorb all the moisture they can assimilate by absorption in such anatmosphere to render them soft and pliant.

14. A tobacco conditioning apparatus of the class described comprising achamber having an opening at each end, an endless conveyor supaooaiaoported for movement through the chamber with portions thereof extendingbeyond the said end openings, a housing at each end of the chamberpartially enclosing said extending portions of the endless conveyor butleaving a section thereof exposed for attaching and removing hands oftobacco leaves during such movement of the conveyor, tobaccohand-supporting bars carried by said endless conveyor and arrangedtransversely of the chamber, means carried by said bacco and means forcreating and causing a current of warm humid air having a moisturecontent of approximately 96 per cent and a temperature of approximately80 degrees to flow into, through, and out of said chamber.

15. The herein-described continuous method of a conditioning tobaccoleaf wrappers to render them soft and pliant, which consists in passinga succession of suspended hands of leaves into, through and out of achamber and in direct contact with a succession of upwardly directedcurrents of warm humid air moving through the chamber, the said airhaving, a moisture content of approximately 96%, and in so regulatingthe conditions of operation that the tobacco inits travel through andout of the chamber will be maintained in the presence of the humidatmosphere for a sufiicient length of time to permit it to absorbnaturally substantially all the moisture it can assimilate by absorptionin such an atmosphere, the temperature of the said atmosphere being suchas to substantially retard the formation of water globules such as wouldtend to spot the leaves.

CHARLES G, MAXWELL.

bars for gripping the butt ends of hands of to-.

